By NELSON OBINE

Under the new naira policy launched by President Muhammadu Buhari on November 23, 2022, the Current N200, N500 and N1,000 banknotes were to circulate side-by-side with the redesigned N200, N500 and N1,000 banknotes till January 31, 2023, when the current notes were originally scheduled to be withdrawn from circulation and cease to be legal tender. However, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), yielding to public pressure, has extended the deadline to February 10, 2023.

As explained by both President Buhari and the CBN, the policy is designed to help check counterfeiting while the redesign is also expected to strengthen the economy, reduce the expenditure on cash management, promote financial inclusion, and enhance the CBN's visibility of the money supply.

But this decision has caused untold hardship across the streets of Lagos and in other parts of the country.

This reporter was recently out on the streets of Lagos for observations of ease of cash transactions owing to the new policy. However, his attempt and that of other anxious bank customers to make cash withdrawals from various Automated Teller Machine points in Alausa axis of Ikeja turned out to be an exercise in futility. Shockingly, all the GTbank, Access Bank, StanbicIBTC Bank, Polaris Bank, Wema Bank, First Bank, and Heritage Bank,

Bank ATMs greeted customers in the same language; “Unable to dispense cash”. This happened precisely in the morning of Thursday, January 26, between the hours 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m.

Unfortunately, almost a week after, the situation has yet to significantly improve, thus leaving bank customers across the country to be gnashing their teeth due to their inability to access their hard-earned money.

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